::5::

happy happy birthday, finn!

it is so much fun to celebrate you today.  you are so easy to celebrate and take delight in so many things.  and you have literally been counting down your fifth birthday since june 27th of 2013.  so, it is such a pleasure for your 5th birthday to arrive!

you are at such a fun and exciting age.  you love to learn.  you love to ask questions.  you love to be helpful and be a gentleman.  and you also love to antagonize crosby.

your heart is so sweet and pure and love just pours out of you.

i can hardly believe you are five and heading into kindergarten.  yet, you seem so old and so eager to learn that i can hardly believe you are just turning five.

we love you so dearly and you are such a beautiful gift in our family.

happy happy five, finn!!

::bibs at bald head::

vacation bliss.

thank you, muffy & skippy, for a most amazing week.

we adore you!

::happy::

 

::adoration::

thank you Lord for this precious one year old in our lives.

the other pictures look so sweet and serene...and this is true life of what was going on around her.

happy first, della!

::della may::

sweet della.

how can you possibly be one today?

i truly feel like it was only yesterday that we were packing up our texas house and i was thinking each day that "this would be the day we'd meet our new baby!"

this year has been such a gift.

finding out we were pregnant with you was such a joy and a beautiful blessing and miracle.
being able to carry you to term and have such a healthy pregnancy was such an answered prayer.
meeting you on june 5th, 2014 and finding out we were adding a beautiful girl to our family made me weep with joy.
and every day of your first year of life has been precious to me.

i often feel like there are downfalls to being the 4th child.
i don't sit on the floor all day with you and play, like i did with lily.
some days are full from start to finish and you spend more time in your carseat than i would desire.
and of course some days there are more tantrums or arguments among your siblings than i wish you would have to endure.

but, there are such gifts to being the 4th, too.
your siblings adore you and will literally do anything to make you happy.
you always have a companion by your side to shower you in love.
and if there is one thing i have learned by now, it is that in almost every moment of mothering, there is something beautiful to treasure.
even in changing a dirty diaper, your sweet giggles flood my heart.

i feel like in this year i have tried to slow down and breathe in these glorious moments with you, may may.  i know your infancy is fleeting and i am hesitant to see it pass by.

but, i LOVE the little girl you are becoming.  you are precious and spunky and sweet and an absolute joy in our family.

della may, happy first birthday.

we praise the Lord for you each and every day.